Page 25 of Hellfire to Come
But my friend was a blazing star in the dark, unstoppable, blood-slicked and radiant with fury. She was coming for me. Tearing everything and everyone apart that stood in her way.
My knees almost buckled from the relief.
That was when the shadows behind me twisted.
I barely had time to turn before a cold arm wrapped around my throat and dragged me back against a hard, immovable chest. A blade pressed under my chin, the prickly metal biting atthe tender spot there. I froze, sucking in a sharp breath as fingers like ice clamped down over my shoulder.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to find her,” purred Frederic, his voice curdling the blood in my veins.
Brooklyn’s eyes snapped wide as her feet skidded to a stop a few yards away.
“What a lovely reunion.” he cooed beside my ear, silken and sharp as a razor. “How very touching.” Long strands of his silky blonde hair fell over my shoulder when he grazed the tip of his nose on the side of my face, sniffing me.
That sleazy asshole.
Of course, it was him.
I’d never seen Brooklyn look so murderous.
“Let her go, Frederic and I might kill you quickly,” she growled, each word soaked in venom.
“Mm-mm.” He tutted, dragging me back a step into the deeper gloom behind us. “Not unless you’d like to see what color your dear friend is on the inside.”
The blade nicked my neck. I held still, swallowing hard. My hands gripped the pipe tighter, but one wrong twitch and I was dead. I knew that. So did he.
None of us moved.
Not Echo. Not Chester. Not Dominic, who’d shifted back to his human form and stood like a coiled spring, nostrils flaring. His eyes still glowed faintly with his animal close to the surface, darting between Brooklyn and me like he was debating which way to pounce if the opportunity presented itself. Even the wolf was frozen in place although it was obvious how badly he wanted to come to me. His body was trembling from the effort to stay put. I hoped he’d listen because I’d hate to watch him being killed.
“If any of you so much as breathe the wrong way,” Frederic continued conversationally like we were all out for a stroll, “I’llslit her throat from ear to ear. And wouldn’t that be tragic, Brooklyn? You fought so hard to save her… only to watch her die at your feet.”
“I dare you, do it,” she whispered, all emotion disappearing from her face. It was as if someone else who looked exactly like Brooklyn stood there, but it wasn’t her. Her power flared so hot the very walls groaned with it. “See what happens to you, Frederic, when I have nothing holding me back.”
Frederic only smiled wider.
“I believe I’ve said this before,” he drawled, and I almost gagged when he shifted, bumping into me, and I felt his erection poke my lower back. The creep was getting hard from the prospect of killing me, or from taunting Brooklyn. Either way, it was disgusting. “But you’re magnificent when you lock your humanity away. I cannot wait to have you back where you belong. Your friends started joining us already and they are waiting for you to come home.”
So, it was from taunting Brooklyn. He was repulsive.
Then I felt the power creeping toward me and every other thought drifted away. A ripple of vile magic sliding through the air like oil. My stomach turned.
From the shadows behind Frederic, another figure emerged into the flickering torchlight.
“Rowan!” Brooklyn’s voice hissed with so much venom that even I flinched.
My breath hitched like it had been knocked from my lungs.
It was Rowan.
Same bold head. Same long worn cloak. Same eyes, only… they weren’t his bottle green peepers. They were dull. Vacant. Like a puppet waiting for a string to be pulled.
He didn’t blink.
Didn’t speak.
Didn’t even see us.
“Oh no,” I breathed. “Rowan? No, no, no.”
